Twisted Tools is known for their innovative instruments and effects for Native Instruments’ Reaktor as well as their sample packs by sound luminaries such as Richard Devine. Their latest sample pack offering, Transform, takes their eclectic range of products even further. I put it to the test in Maschine and Logic’s EXS24.

What’s Inside

Transform is available as a download directly from the Twisted Tools website and consists of over 1.6 Gigabytes of contemporary/futuristic sample mayhem. These are a collection of field recordings and synthetic sounds crafted by Jedsound (Jean-Edouard Miclot, a French sound designer). The sample pack is 24-bit/96kHz format and thus is perfect for high-end sound design and movie scores as well as for anyone looking to create some twisted beats, grooves and soundscapes.

They’ve thoughtfully included presets for all the major samplers, including Logic’s EXS24, Kontakt, Battery, Reaktor and Maschine. The documentation is extensive and easy to follow and to install the EXS24 kit it was a simple drag and drop scenario. One of the easiest installation processes ever! For Maschine, you’re advised to install the samples from within Maschine’s interface and I’d suggest following Twisted Tools’ advice and spending 10 minutes tagging the different sample folders. This will make finding the sounds in Maschine’s Browser much easier later on.

As a bonus, MP16c templates are provided for Maschine, Kore and TouchOSC for the iPad. There’s also a special kit created by Richard Devine using samples from Transform included too.

The Sounds

Twisted Tools has certainly lived up to its name with this sample pack! The bass sounds alone range from wobbles to deep, alien-esque soundscapes, and the impacts, FX, Mecha and micro sounds would be a welcome addition to the palette of any film or game sound designer. Once loaded into Maschine, using the sounds from Transform really, well, transformed the sonic nature of the sequences I was composing. However you choose to install these into Maschine, the names are very descriptive which makes it easy to find something suitable for your project. This is something other sample pack providers could do well to follow.

I wouldn’t be surprised if many of the SFX sounds from Transform appear in radio broadcasts, animations, sci-fi video games and movies. Some of the evolving sounds, like the Shimmer, TunnelFoley and ice-based samples are rich, ripe and ready to go straight into a project with little, if any, processing required. I’d highly recommend spending some time browsing through them in your DAW or Sampler of choice as you’re likely to find some gems suited to a wide variety of sound design uses.

However, I’d be doing Transform a disservice to focus on the sound design market only. There are sounds a plenty here that can be integrated into virtually any contemporary style of music. I’ve already mentioned the wobble-style bass sounds. There are also percussive, impact and organic sounds that can add some spice to any genre. Some might be suitable as a subtly-employed backdrop to a song, while others lend themselves to being used, abused and twisted even further for electronica and urban styles.

Conclusion

It’s easy to stumble across one sound from Transform’s library that can provide a much needed spark of inspiration and could lead to an entire soundscape, song or robo-tronica lead! Any music producer or sound designer looking for a high-quality sample pack, at a reasonable price of $69, should definitely consider adding Twisted Tools’ Transform to their toolbox.

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Rounik Sethi

Rounik is the Executive Editor for Ask.Audio & the macProVideo Hub.
As an Apple Certified Trainer for Logic (and a self-confessed Mac fanatic) he's taught teachers, professional musicians and hobbyists how to get the best out of Apple's creative software. He has been a visiting lecturer at Bath Spa University's Teacher training pro... Read More